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What Is The Stakeholder Theory Of Agency Theory

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Agency theory
It is an acknowledged fact that the principal-agent theory is generally considered the starting point for any debate on the issue of corporate governance emanating from the classical thesis on The Modern Corporation and Private Property by Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means. According to this thesis, the fundamental agency problem in modern firms is primarily due to the separation between finance and management. Modern firms are seen to suffer from separation of ownership and control and therefore are run by professional managers (agents) who cannot be held accountable by dispersed shareholders. This separation of ownership from management and the resulting loss of direct owner involvement in the firm forced many people to rethink the conventional wisdom about the role of markets and the need for private ownership of capital in shaping …show more content…

By expanding the spectrum of interested parties, the stakeholder theory stipulates that, a corporate entity invariably seeks to provide a balance between the interests of its diverse stakeholders in order to ensure that each interest constituency receives some degree of satisfaction (Abrams, 1951). The stakeholder theory is therefore appears better in explaining the role of corporate governance than the agency theory by highlighting the various constituents of a firm. Thus, creditors, customers, employees, banks, governments, and society are regarded as relevant stakeholders. Related to the above discussion, John and Senbet (1998) provide a comprehensive review of the stakeholders’ theory of corporate governance which points out the presence of many parties with competing interests in the operations of the firm. They also emphasize the role of non-market mechanisms such as the size of the board, committee structure as important to firm

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